Be Curious

Can religion solve our problems?

Religions emerge millions of years ago. When a child is born, such child look to the parents for everything the child wants. As the child grows, the child realizes that there are many challenges that need to be broken. The child who now grows to be adult will quickly realize that there are some challenges that is above his or her capacity, the next thing he or she does is to stare at the sky looking toward the heaven thinking that there will be intervention. He will start praying so that the challenge will go away. Unknown to him, nature has a way of resolving issues or may I say in other words, the Universe has a way of resolving this even when you do nothing about it.

As the problem or the challenge alleviates, the man believe that an intervention has come and a place of dedication and worship is next. He put a stone or go near a tree to annoint it a special place of worship. Anytime he has a challenge or problem, he will quickly go there to pray. But as the challenge or the problem become insolvable, he believes the god he has created, need something to appease it. The fist target are animals. He will then kill animals and sprinkle the blood on the stone or a place he choose for his worship. As somethings are beyond his comprehension like flood, storm, lightening, earthquake, disease, he then decide that human sacrifice will solve the problem and human sacrifice began.

Animals and human sacrifices cut across many religious beliefs in the past. Evidence of human sacrifices are found in Europe, Africa, Asia as well as North and South America. The emergence of Abrahamic religion mainly Judaism, Christianity and Islam did a lot to reduce human sacrifices. Human sacrifices are still practiced in some remote locations of the world. With the British, French, Spanish and other European colonization helped stamped out human sacrifices but animal sacrifices are still widespread.

Today while many people looked up to different religious faith to solve the world problems , people used to forget that all religions of the past including Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism etc once tolerate human slavery. Some cathedrals where people worship today were once built by slaves, likewise several other places of worship. Slavery today is now defined as a crime against humanity. In those days, slaves are regarded as properties and an increase in ones slaves was regarded as the blessing of God. The end to human slavery is largely due to British opposition and force. The British and the French also impose a total ban on slavery in their respective colonial territories. The end to slavery is due to human effort.

While many rush to their places of worship to seek protection from their respective God or gods, these places of worship are now targets of terrorist attacks, communal violence and arson. Leaders of various religions have arrogated to themselves divine powers and move their respective followers to violence. The ability of various religions to solve human problems is far remote although some religious leaders are always pursing peace. The emergence of Islamic State as a religious institution really demonstrated the atrocities individuals can commit in the name of religion. Islamic state is not alone. In medieval period, Europeans witnessed inquisition. Thousands of people were murdered during this period. While Christianity has outlived this, Islam has not. There must be a clear separation between state and religion. Any country that bears its fundamental principles on religion will face civil war and total collapse in the future. Human beings are very curious and love freedom. Any law, regulation or institution that restricts their freedom is always challenged. The fact is that all humans are equal irrespective of the color, tribes or religious coloration. Some people are using different profiles to segregate humans and classify or profile them into what they can call them. Human beings are gullible always form themselves into different group, classification and profiles. Religion today can be said to be doing more damage than the good. It is advised that one should use one’s brain and sense of reasoning in dealing with one’s religious belief.